


Marie's World - 30 Day Prompt Fill (2020 April)

by StupidUFO



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bonding, Drabble, Drama, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Gen, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jonathan being a difficult bastard, Marie is like eight, Mild Language, Prompt Fill, References to Depression, Self-Hatred, Short, Suicide Attempt, arts and crafts, mostly reference only, mostly slice of life type of fics, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 16,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29715327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidUFO/pseuds/StupidUFO
Summary: Another prompt fill writing exercise. This time I tried forming a comprehensive story while still trying to do justice to the prompt."Marie had a pretty typical life living with her parents and grandmother. That suddenly changes when a stranger is brought into their world and who is bound to change it."





	1. Sound of silence

**Author's Note:**

> Some things in advance: suicide, depression, and alcohol addiction are mentioned, and in a couple of prompts are more focused on. I won't be going into it more since I want to keep these short.
> 
> (I'm also thinking about turning this into a short comic, but that's a bigger undertaking that I can commit to at the moment so we will see what the future brings on that front.)
> 
> This is a writerswrite prompt.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody called them on the house phone, so it was easy for Marie to guess that something strange has happened.

The phone rang.

In itself that wasn’t so odd. People were always looking for Mom as she worked in the hospital. There was always something going on and she was always needed. Marie was used to that.

What she wasn’t used to was the house phone ringing at lunchtime.

Usually, when the hospital was looking for her, they would call Mom on her mobile phone, so Marie knew that something was wrong. Nobody ever called the house phone.

The adults looked between each other. Mom, Dad, and Granny – the members of Marie’s little world.

Mom stood up and took the phone; she listened then called Dad over. The two of them stood there, Dad politely nodded and answered every question but he was quiet – too quiet for Marie to hear – and Mom waited for him to finish.

“Continue with your lunch, dear,” Granny said. “Mom and Dad will sort that out.”

“If you say so.”

It was quiet in the house.

Marie was sent to bed. Mom and Dad have to go to the hospital, they said, they won’t be back until morning. She and Granny went to sleep shortly. But Marie couldn’t sleep, she was uneasy. This wasn’t that strange, Mom had to go to the hospital all the time. But Dad? He only went to visit Mom when she couldn’t come home.

She didn’t know what was going on and the idea of a mystery simultaneously fascinated and scared her. 

What could be going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and a couple after are not the best, I get into the motion later on.


	2. Perplexed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the next morning and Marie is not closer to figuring out the truth.

Next morning she woke up at almost nine. That was late even for a Saturday so Marie got up and went downstairs.

Mom was in the kitchen and she was making tea for herself and Granny. Granny was there as well, sitting by the table and reading her novella. However, Dad was not here.

That was because he was in the hospital. They arrived back around midnight and he had to go back.

First Marie was afraid that Dad was hurt, but Mom reassured her that that’s not the case. How could that be? She demanded an explanation, all of this was just confusing – she is big enough to take the truth.

Mom looked uncomfortable for a moment.

“Well,” she started, “Dad had to go back to the hospital because his brother got hurt.”

Huh, well that’s unexpected. Marie didn’t even know that Dad has a brother. In her opinion that makes him not a really good brother. She is going to make him aware of that when she sees him.

Mom told her that she probably shouldn’t do that. Marie thought that this is one of those "be polite" types of situations, which sucks.

Granny quietly waved her over to the table.

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t tell me anything,” she whispered. “But we can figure it out behind their backs.”

Marie giggled at that, she only hoped that Mom didn’t hear them because then there goes their chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rereading this I noticed how monotone it comes down. It gets better later on, but a couple of early ones will be rough. Sorry about that.


	3. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie is not impressed by her new uncle.

Uncle was moving in.

This wasn’t what Marie imagined when they first started to talk about him. But it was whatever. 

He wasn’t much to look at. He looked like Dad, so Marie could see how they were brothers. But he was thinner and taller and had stubble and short hair that seemed to stand in every direction. He was glaring a lot as well, he must hate everybody – even her, and they haven’t even talked yet. Marie would be scared of him if he wasn’t so pitiful to look at. He had his arm in a sling and one of his legs in a cast - which was enough to make Marie feel sorry for him.

Mom and Dad fussed over him enough to last him a year tho’ so Marie didn’t feel like she needed to lift a finger.

Dad had to help him come in. He was sat on the couch and Mom and Dad asked a lot of questions. Is he okay? Does he need anything? Is he comfortable? He would grumble and tell them that he is fine and to leave him alone.

Marie didn’t know why he was so mean.

Mom and Dad decided to leave him alone. Granny only shook her head and didn’t say a word.

Only Marie stood by the door.

Uncle eventually noticed her.

“Are you Benny’s kid? You look like him when he was a kid.”

“I am,” she said but she didn’t know what else to say. Nobody has ever said that she looked like Dad, everybody always said that she must look like her Mom. But Uncle must know better since he was Dad’s brother.

Uncle only looked away and muttered to himself. “Of course he has a kid you dumbass. What a stupid question.”

“I heard that,” Marie called him out on it. “Don’t say bad words.”

“Then don’t repeat them if you know so much better than I.”

Marie could tell that she wasn’t going to like this Uncle person. Still, she should make friends with him, since he is going to stay here with all of them.

“I’m Marie. What’s your name?”

“Why should I tell you? Eh?” he snapped at her.

Maybe he is only having a bad day because he is hurt. 

“That’s rude,” she pointed it out, hurt or not hurt she won’t let him get away with being rude. “And it’s only polite to tell your name when you are staying.”

He was ignoring her, looking at the turned-on TV.

“And because you are my uncle but I have never heard about you.”

She was just saying the truth, of course, and there is nothing wrong with that. But that might have been the wrong thing to do because Uncle suddenly glared at her but then he looked as if he was minutes away from crying. 

“I’m not surprised,” he said looking away.

A long silence stretched out between them. Marie felt like she should talk, ask about things, anything really. So she asked about the most obvious thing.

“What happened to you?” At first, Marie thought that he didn’t hear her. But then he leaned back on the couch and groaned.

“How do I say this in a way that won’t get me into trouble,” he mumbled again.

“I can hear you,” Marie pointed it out, “Even if you mumble.”

He groaned again. The he rubbed his eyes and gestured dismissively at the air with his good hand. “Let’s just say – this is a lame explanation but whatever. Let’s just say that I tried to disappear.”

“Disappear? Like a magic trick?”

Uncle rolled his eye. “Yeah, yeah, like a magic trick. Only I messed it up big time and now I am like this. Do you get it?”

Not really, but before she could ask anything Dad came into the room.

“Marie could you go to your room?” he asked. “I need to talk with your Uncle.”

And there was that.

Marie knew this was serious because she wasn’t often sent to her room. So she went quietly even if she still really wanted to ask what Uncle wanted to disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where I started feeling where I want to take the story. The writing is still rough tho.


	4. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle is shaping up to be a difficult person to live with, luckily Granny is more than happy to lay down the law.

Today marked the first day Uncle spent with them officially. Also it was the first breakfast he spent with them. 

Breakfast and lunch were, in Marie’s opinion, the most important meals of the day, mostly because she could spend it with her family – as opposed to dinners she would have with Granny when she would arrive home on the school bus that dropped her down close to her house.

Uncle didn’t want to get up. Mom asked, Dad asked, but he was stubborn – more stubborn than Marie when she was two, apparently. They eventually gave up and told him that if he wanted to eat he can come out into the kitchen on his own. Mom turned on the TV for him, putting on a football match. Uncle Stranger wasn’t happy about it, but the remote was placed outside of his reach in some sort of provocation, so he ignored it.

They eat breakfast trying to pretend that Uncle wasn’t there in the house with them. Then Mom and Dad had to go to work, and because it was the summer break – to Marie’s joy – she and Granny remained home. 

Once Mom and Dad were gone Granny stood up and put Uncle’s food onto a plate and turned to go into the living room. Marie stood up to follow her but she told her to stay there. So she did. But once Granny was in the room Marie stood up and ran to the doorway to listen to what they are talking about.

She could hear Granny put the plate down on the coffee table. The porcelain clicked loudly even with the football match going on.

“Here you go, darling.”

Uncle ignored her.

“Now, I know you aren’t in a good place. But I wouldn’t be so rude to your own family.”

Uncle snorted. “You don’t even know who I am. Why do you even care about me?”

“You might be right,” she said. “But as I see it, you are being very rude to the people who opened their house to you. I would at least try to behave at least polite.”

“I didn’t ask them to do it. But Benny is a bleeding heart. He couldn’t let them take me away, he convinced me to come here.”

“Darling, I really don’t care about that.”

Uncle chuckled at that, but it had a bad-natured tone to it.

“The fact stays, whatever you are going through keep in mind there are people trying to help you,” Granny said, “And if I had to be honest if you were in my house, acting like a brat, I would send you flying out onto the street so fast you wouldn’t be able to blink twice, broken leg or not.”

“Ha, do it then!”

“Like I said if you would be in my house. As it stands, my daughter and her husband decided that you are to stay, so you will be staying. But don’t get me wrong, if the conversation of you staying or going ever comes up, know which side I will be on.”

“Charming.”

“Now, are you going to eat, darling?”

“Don’t darling me.”

“Eat, darling.”

Granny returned then to the kitchen catching Marie red-handed in her spying. She only shook her head and gently scolded her then she sent her back to the table. Having nothing better to do, Marie took out her sketchbook and started working on another masterpiece. 

Later Uncle limped out into the kitchen on his crutch moving slowly. He had a frown on as he held the plate close to him carefully balancing it in his weak broken hand in the sling. Granny looked up from her novel waiting for a sign that she was needed but when Uncle refused to even look at her she understood that the man wanted to be left alone and returned to her reading.

Marie watched over her shoulder as Uncle struggled to wash his plate with just one hand over the running water. She didn’t know if she should help him. He managed somehow, but he was groaning all the way and he put the plate and fork onto the drier clumsily.

He returned to the living room and that was the end of it.


	5. Unholy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family's patience is tried.

The following days saw the disturbance of their usual routines. Uncle was a difficult person to live with, even if Dad said that he really wasn’t – and really he should know the best because he grew up with him. But even as Mom and Dad tried their best to get Uncle to warm up to them, he was like an unmovable boulder, firmly set in his convictions, and the more they tried to pull him closer the harder he worked on pushing them away.

Marie one night overheard a talk in the kitchen. Uncle must have been asleep by then as the other adults were talking about him freely. 

What she understood about it was that Uncle needed help. But this wasn’t a simple thing.

Dad was worried about him, he would tell the others. His brother used to be kind to him and he knows that he loves him even today – but so many things have changed and they hadn’t seen each other for years. He didn’t know what to do. Mom tried to comfort him and tell him that they would figure it out one way or another.

Marie could tell that this whole ordeal was hurting her parents. And in some odd way, it was also hurting Uncle as well. Why she couldn’t tell.

Granny on the other hand was having none of Uncle’s behavior. 

Every turn she got she fought him – in her passive, sarcastic kind of way that she seemed to have perfected through the long years she has lived. She would leave the man fuming more often than not. This was something Granny seemed to find pride in.

However, Granny’s victories were short-lived as well – since Uncle figured out that she was sensitive to nasty words that Marie would often hear from the TV shows but wasn’t allowed to repeat it.

Local warfare aside, it was easy to see that Granny’s patience was tried. One evening she verbally cornered Dad to make him ‘control’ his brother. She even had some choice words to say about the man. She even went so far as to call him an unholy bastard - which was rare since Granny was a patient and kind person, usually.

She was much too tired to listen in further.


	6. Hurtle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight between Uncle and Granny takes an unexpected turn.

It was evident that there was tension in the house since Uncle was ‘forced’ to move in. The family broke down into smaller factions with Uncle and Granny fighting each other on the front line and Mom and Dad trying to get both of them to quiet down and get to some sort of agreement between them. And Marie was stuck on the sideline where she quietly places herself listening in and taking notes like a wartime reporter anxious over what’s going to happen next.

Of course, all of this is a gross exaggeration. The situation wasn’t as dramatic as described previously. Mostly Uncle kept to himself in the living room that became his sanctuary, only leaving it to relieve himself in the bathroom and to come to the kitchen and wash his dishes but only when he knew that people weren’t around.

Those people being Mom and Dad as Granny made the kitchen her base, and the two would mostly only interact when Granny took the meals to the living room after Uncle once again refused to eat with them.

As Marie was sitting in her room she could hear Granny and Uncle talking again. It must be dinner time already. 

She got up to go to the kitchen but suddenly she could hear that the talk turned louder. Then she heard Uncle loudly proclaiming that he has had enough and he would not stay a single minute more in this house, in turn, Granny was more than happy to let him go.

Marie went downstairs Granny was standing in the kitchen looking out into the hallway, looking at the closing door.

When she looked at her Granny smiled softly. 

“Don’t worry about it, sweetie. He is going to blow off steam and come back as soon as he realizes what a fool he is being.”

Marie hesitated with an answer. “I don’t know, Granny. He seems pretty stubborn so far. And he has a crutch, what if he gets hurt somehow?”

Granny looked at the door for a minute. “I guess you might be right. Stay here, sweetie. I’m going to bring him back.”

Marie debated going with her. But Granny was already leaving so there was only one thing to do. She jumped off the stairs and raced out after them. She stepped out into their short front garden, the little fence door was left open as Granny made her way confidently after the limping man. Uncle in turn looked like he was struggling, his leg was obviously hurting him. 

When Marie reached the fence Uncle collapsed. 

And he didn’t get up.

From where she stood she couldn’t see that he was crying.

Granny was there then, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. 

“It is going to be alright, darling,” she said. It must have been the first kind words she said to him. But it seemed that it did nothing. He only started to sob harder.

“No,” he choked out, shaking his head slightly.

Marie didn't know what he was talking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More crude writing. At this point, I was already fantasizing about turning this into a comic at some point and I'm not gonna lie, I was seeing the panel in my head as I wrote most of this. I think that's why the writing turned out so matter-of-factly (just going through the motion).


	7. Compound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie now sees that things might not be as simple as she might have imagined it at first.

Marie was left alone with her distressed uncle who just a moment ago had collapsed outside on the street in a futile attempt to escape. She never really thought about it like that, but now looking at her uncle rubbing his eyes and being obviously embarrassed over his antics, that he might be taking this worst than she might have thought originally.

Granny was still in the kitchen. She wanted to give Uncle a minute to compose himself.

“What are you doing here kid,” he suddenly said. “Get lost already. You don’t need to stay here hearing all this shi- dumb stuff.” 

“I wanted to talk with you sooner,” she said.

“Why?” 

“Because you are sad.”

He shook his head and he might have chuckled. “Don’t bother with that, kid,” he simply said. “This isn’t something you can change. This has been going on for a very long time now.”

“What is?”

She really didn’t understand. Marie was used to adults telling her that she would understand things when she was older. Maybe this was one of those things.

“It’s like this,” he rubbed his eyes a final time, but the stoic, rude uncle did not return with that move no matter how much he tried. “Have you ever helped your mom make a cake? Or bread or something like that?”

“Yeah, we do it all the time!” although what this had to do with anything Marie hadn’t the faintest clue.

“Okay,” he said, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. “So this is how it goes. You know that how, when you are cooking, you put things together and stir it and then you get the dough. Right?”

“Right…?”

“Right,” he repeated. “Well, when that happens with people, then, uhm, things get mixed up and that’s bad. And that’s what happened. I just- I don’t even know why I am telling you this. It’s dumb, forget about it.”

“No, it’s not dumb,” Marie tried to tell him, although she still couldn’t understand what or why he was telling her these things.

“Just forget about it, kid. It’s none of your business. I can't even explain it to you correctly so just don't-”

In that moment Granny came into the room with a tray and three cups of tea along with it.

Marie brightened at the gift and took it happily from the tray, while Uncle looked at it with a sense of foreboding. He got his cup pushed into his hand; his only choice was to take it. Granny sat down beside him, keeping a polite distance.

“So,” Granny sipped from her tea. “Are you going to talk to us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those chapters where the prompt got into the way of the story. I'm still happy with it, one of the better chapters so far.


	8. Poverty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Story-time!

Uncle looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. However, after his failure to run away he is sure to think twice before he tries to execute another brilliant escape plan. Unfortunately for him he was thoroughly stuck – or cornered to be precise. 

On Granny’s side, it seemed that her previous distaste for the man was gone. Or at least it was put on a temporary hold until the current issues at the table were sorted out. 

“Sweetie,” Granny turned to Marie. “Maybe it would be better if you left. This is going to be a conversation that you shouldn’t hear.”

“No! I want to stay!” she argued. She was tired of always being left out. “Please. I will try my best to stay quiet.”

“That’s not the problem, sweetie.” 

“I will try to keep it kid-friendly,” Uncle said sarcastically. But he apologized when Granny glared at him. Still, he promised to play by some preset rules that were acceptable and that Marie wasn’t privy to.

What followed next was a roughly told and rushed life story, told with unceremonious nervousness. Despite agreeing to it Uncle was uncertain about how to proceed with telling his story. Granny was uncharacteristically supportive of him, but she kept her distance. She noticed that she didn’t call him darling. Marie sat quietly and listened even when her patience was running short with the adults.

Life started out like for most for a pair of brothers, the older Jonathan and the younger Benjamin. They lived in a small apartment with their mother and father in a big American city, and like many other children, they weren’t exactly living the American dream. After school, Jonathan would usually grab Benjamin and pull him along to the nearest playground to play, do their homework on the benches, and eat their leftover sandwiches. Jonathan would do anything to keep them from going home before dark.

Their parents were often upset with them. And they were upset with each other. Their apartment was rarely quiet.

One day mother had enough. On that day when nobody was home, she quietly quit her job, packed her things, took all the money, and then she was gone. Just like that, as if it was the easiest thing to do.

Then things changed. 

And as the saying goes, the more things change the more they stay the same.

Father turned cold, colder than he usually was. Now there was no one to talk back to him like mother did, so Jonathan had to step up. Every turn where he could he went head to head and toe to toe with his old man. 

Sometimes he even started it.

It was inevitable that he ended up on the streets.

Some would say that it was downhill from thereon. In Jonathan’s opinion, there was no top to start from to beginning with. So he kept going. For a long time that was all he knew how to do. What happened to Benjamin he didn’t know – in the last couple of years, he pulled away from his brother. In the last years Jonathan hardly even noticed him being there he became so quiet.

Later he regretted that. He regretted that he fought his father; he regretted not taking the high road, not looking after his brother, going after his head. In the end, it cost him everything.

Oh, he tried to go back. Not to apologize of course – that would take him admitting that he was wrong in his father’s face and he would never swallow his pride like that. But he did try to figure out what happened to his brother. He went to college it turned out, far from home. Jonathan thought that he would never see him again.

So he went back to his dingy little smoke-filled apartment and lit up another cigarette and pulled in the blinds so that he could distract himself from the bright sunny day outside. He did nothing to close the window to prevent him from hearing the happily chirping spring birds or the screaming children playing in the nearby park mixed along with the constant noise of the never-stopping city. He just listened to the restless life bustling outside leaving him behind.

He lived off of what little he made from odd jobs here and there. He only needed cigarettes.

A long time ago he liked to draw. There were days when it got him through the day. Some days he couldn’t wait to get home from his awful actual job. Now he didn’t even care about it, he couldn’t get himself out of bed to pick up the pencil.

In his days all he wanted to do was sleep. In the nights he couldn’t get a moment's rest.

This was a hole he couldn’t climb out of. So he started to walk. And he walked until he found himself on a highway intersection. 

In the next moment, he fell on top of a car, breaking his arm, his leg, and who knows what else. 

Now here he was slowly falling apart more than he knew he could.


	9. In the fridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie and her uncle bond over doing the wrong things, so to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I feel like I'm getting really into it.

The next day found them in a strange suspended dream-like state.

Now that everything was on the table – sorta-kinda, Marie still didn’t understand every aspect of the problem but she started to put them together even if Uncle and Granny did their best to not name the unnamable that hung above their head during last afternoon’s conversation. 

Even so, she could guess that that was how Uncle tried to disappear. Death wasn’t a foreign concept to Marie, Grandpa passed away a year ago. She didn’t really get it before then. Before death was a concept reserved for movies, it didn’t even cross her mind that that was something that could happen in real life until she was confronted with it face on. But to want to die – and that was what’s happened even if they tried to avoid saying it – was hard to understand. 

Marie was sent to her bedroom after that talk. 

She could hear Granny and Uncle continue on downstairs. Although she couldn’t really hear what they were talking about, at that moment she didn’t really want to. She just tried to understand what was going through her Uncle’s head. So many things have happened and it seemed as if he wasn’t in control of any of them.

He must have been hurt, she concluded. Now there was only the task to change that. 

But what could one do when you are faced with somebody who lost their will to live? 

Marie knew she wasn’t cut out for this job. If there was a villain to fight she might have a chance to do something just like the heroes in the movies. But then again, maybe Uncle didn’t need a hero to fight for him. Maybe he just needed a good friend. Or maybe he just needed his family. 

Next day Granny was so tired that she had to go and lay down in her room. Mom and Dad were off to work – they seemingly missed the developments in the house.

Marie remained in the kitchen to paint with her watercolors.

A slow tapping sound got her attention. Uncle made his way into the kitchen.

“Hi, kid,” he said. Marie didn’t know if he ever greeted her.

He made an uncertain but determined line for the fridge. Now that she remembers he missed today’s breakfast. He opened the fridge, leaned in then groaned deeply.

That was concerning. Marie got up and went to him, she was slightly concerned about what he was up to, but it was also interesting to see him up and moving about in a better spirit – or at least seemingly in a better spirit. She watched him like a specimen of an exotic species that was rarely documented.

“Where is your grandmother?” he asked after glancing at her for a moment.

“She is taking a nap,” she leaned in closer to see what Uncle was looking for, but at the moment he was only shyly looking through the fridge. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for something to eat, kid, I’m hungry,” he kept rummaging around with more confidence. “Why isn’t there anything edible in here?”

“What are you talking about? That’s all food.”

“I mean something done. Leftovers or something.”

“Oh,” Marie brightened. “Granny put your food in the microwave. Just in case it got cold.”

The fridge was promptly abandoned and Uncle’s attention was turned to the microwave beside it on the kitchen counter. He inspected the microwave and shortly he turned it on for a short rewarming. 

He hesitated to say something. “I have to thank her later.”

Marie took a good look at the man. It was apparent that he was still sad, so she wanted to do something nice for him. 

“Hey, did you know that we have cake in the fridge?”

He gives her a mischievous smirk. “Oh yeah? And why should I know about that?”

“Mom said that we can have some if we don’t make a mess.”

Uncle kept smirking, and then he started smiling. Marie knew that he knew that she wanted that cake as well. She hoped that the puppy eyes she was giving him were enough to convince him to become her partner in crime. 

“You know,” he said. “I’m supposed to behave, you know. I am, after all, in somebody else’s house.” 

“It’s my house as well.”

“Ah, really?” 

He seemed to be catching on.

“And we won’t get into trouble?” he asked, but just with the play pretend of an adult who knew that they in fact will get into trouble.

But what can she do? “No,” she shook her head with the confidence of a kid who was doing something wrong wanted to do it anyway.

Uncle wasn’t a nice person; he was morally grey at best. To say that giving in to a little indulgent wasn’t hard at all would be an understatement. In fewer words: he gave in. However, Marie had to wait for him to eat his breakfast first. And he made sure that he eats slowly just to make the kid anxious to get to the sweets already. The wait only made it that much sweeter.

Needless to say, they were caught by Granny. It just goes to show that you can never get away with your crimes.


	10. Ache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie and her uncle are building a steady friendship.

Marie made sure that she talked with Uncle more than before. And she had to say he was a good person to talk to. 

Mostly because he was a new person she can tell all the things that happened to her in school and kindergarten, not to mention cartoon plots and everything else. He was a nice pair of ears to bounce of ideas and all other things she just happened to want to talk about it. 

However, that didn’t mean that Uncle necessarily liked it. Oh sure there were times he did enjoy the little talks and he could even keep up with Marie’s ever running on imagination, but most times he had to do his best to bite his lip and stand the barrage of information cascading on him. 

He just wanted a quiet day, but Granny gently reminded him to be on ‘his best behavior’ – he knew that the old hag enjoyed it more than she ought to have.

“Kid, how long have I been here?”

“For a week,” she answered organizing her pictures in their appropriate order.

“Good grief,” he groaned. “I feel as if I have been cooped up here for an eternity.”

Marie looked at the man strangely. Where did this problem come from? She knew that her mom would do anything to have an entire week for herself without any responsibilities that came with a hectic hospital job, and her dad could use some vacation from the everyday stress that his nervous nature only barely tolerated.

She told him so, but that only got her a groan from him and the man slumped down more on his spot on the couch.

“Believe me, kid, there is a huge difference between not doing anything and not being able to do anything,” he rubbed a sore spot on his shoulder. “Learn from me, kid, and never break a bone. Ever. Being stuck in one place is devastating. Every part of me is aching like crazy and all I want to do is run around like a mad man, but I can’t because of this,” he shakes his encased leg for emphasis. “And it itches like hell.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Sorry. Heck.”

Marie looked over him with sympathy. She loved going on walks, if she would have broken her leg she would have been devastated. 

Thinking about what she could do, she suddenly brightened. “Could we ask Granny to go for a walk?”

He made an unpleasant face. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still not best buddies with your dear old granny. Don’t get me wrong, I respect her more than the day I got here, but… I’m not going to ask her for things.”

“She would agree,” Marie tried to convince him.

“She already makes my food. I wouldn’t ask anything more from her.”

“Then I will!”

“Wait! Don’t!”

It ended as you would have expected. In an hour or so Marie, Granny and Uncle were ready to take a short walk down the street and back. As it was expected Uncle got tired faster than Granny or Marie did, but he was happy to get out of the house for the first time in forever. When they got back after the short walk – it couldn’t have been more than half an hour his mood was noticeably better, to the point that Dad had to ask what happened when he arrived home. Marie was gracious enough to tell him everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this point, I'm starting to pull away from Marie's perspective and going into some of the other family members' points of view. Mostly it will be Jonathan's (the uncle) perspective.


	11. 12-forthy eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie and Jonathan take a look at Jonathan's sketchbook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Head's up, I feel like I'm bsing pretty hard in this one to include the prompt.

“What did you find, kid?” Uncle asked when he woke up to Marie rummaging through the thin bag he had with him. 

The bag usually rested beside him on the couch. So far it remained undisturbed, but as he got to know the kid better he knew that his secrets will be slowly unearthed. 

Currently, she was holding one of his sketchbooks open to a pencil drawing.

“Is this your drawing book?”

He sat up. “It’s called a sketchbook,” he motioned for her to come over. “Show me what you are looking at.”

Marie sat beside him on the couch. She shows him pictures of street scenes. “Did you make these?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “You remember I told you and your granny that I used to draw? Well, these are the kind of things I did. I found a nice place where I could sit and drew what I saw.”

“Okay, but how can you decide what you want to draw?”

“I like how streets look when they are empty. So that’s what I would look for. But sometimes I would just draw, you know?”

“Like me!”

“Yeah,” then he gently added, “But they aren’t as good as your pictures, though. They have no story behind them.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Marie reassured him, “They are pretty and I love them!”

Uncle chuckled lightly. “Thanks, kid.”

“Can you teach me how to draw like this?”

“Right now?”

“Please,” she begged, and then begged harder when he appeared to think about it.

“Oh, alright. Go get your things.”

Marie ran off delighted over the free art class from a fellow artist. 

While waiting for her to return, Uncle Jonathan started flipping through the pages idly. It always made him feel better to leaf through the pages of his sketchbooks, just to look at the things that he made. Every sketch held a pleasant memory of the rare moments he managed to find some peace of mind and get lost in the things he loved. Looking back at it he mustn't have had that many of those moments, his sketchbook is barely filled.

If he would have continued he could have filled it already and it would have taken its place on the table under the window in his little dingy apartment where it would be bathed in the early sunlight until its cover faded. He would flip through it from time to time until the paged were dog-eared and yellowed with ages. 

Now he started to become nostalgic. 

He found that he started to miss his little apartment. It wasn’t the best place on Earth. But it was his little place of comfort – despite all that went down, despite his depression.

He flipped to a page, one of the earlier drawings. It was of a small house front – five-step concrete stairs, an iron rail with dents here and there, an old door with a little window draped on the other side, a brick wall off which the paint and whitewash have long since chipped off and the remains of posters and glue still stuck to them, there was a tag here and there. The details that were done with the most loving hand strokes were the old advertisements of shops long closed painted on the left just a bit above the door: 12 forty-eight sale. In reality, the writing has long faded – he didn’t know what most of them were for in the beginning, now the only testimony that they were even there was his drawings. It filled him with a feeling he couldn’t name. It was both warm and heartbreaking.

Good grief, how he missed it. He wanted to go back there.

It was strange how he spent most of his days wanting to just not be, but now he just wanted to be back where he started. He could help but long for the familiar now that his world was turned upside down. 

He didn’t have more time to ponder on his conflicted feelings. Marie has returned and happily plopped down on the couch by him. She had everything with her – Jonathan would guess that she brought all her art supplies. They wouldn’t need more than a pencil and paper but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that.

Both of them took a paper and a pencil and Uncle Jonathan slowly started to guide Marie through the principles of perspective.


	12. Craft paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie wants to return the favor from yesterday, so it's time to give an art lesson to Uncle.

If Uncle helped her improve her art then it was only polite for Marie to help him as well. He too should try out something new, and what better thing to try out than the best thing you can possibly do with paper: scrapbooking.

So, having made her decision, she started the morning with collecting every piece of colorful paper she owned and transported them down to the living room under the confused gazes of her Granny and Uncle – she needed to make a couple of trips to get everything down but it was worth it.

  
Looking at the pile of papers and tools filled her with a sense of pride.

“Sorry to ask, kid,” her uncle started talking. “But what are you up to?”

“Well,” she explained. “Since you started teaching me how to draw as you do, I decided to help you learn something new as well!”

“Okay.” He said uncertainly. “And what that might be?”

“Scrapbooking!”

“Scrapbooking?”

Uncle was uncertain about how to go about it. But to his credit, he did pick up the scissors and a colored paper he liked and started doing what Marie did. He needed to juggle his tasks with his tied-up arm, but he insisted on doing it all on his own.

Well, they didn’t use a book; it was his first try so a nice plain paper would suffice.

It was amateurish, compared to Marie’s. But she wasn’t any better when she started out so it was all good. If he kept on going he would do so much better.

Granny sat in the armchair quietly listening to the TV. Her novel rested on the shelf beside her as she divided her attention between the show she was watching and the pair working diligently on their art.

When Mom and Dad arrived home they found both Marie and Uncle Jonathan painstakingly cleaning up the mess they made in the living room, while Granny was smugly sipping her cup of tea still sitting in her armchair, as she insisted that they clean up the glue stains on the coffee table and collect the pieces of paper scattered on the floor.

Marie did most of the job because Uncle could barely lean down and pick up the paper pieces that escaped in their pursuit of art.

Dad ended up helping them while Mom went to make lunch. Later they showed them everything they made that day.


	13. Note book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle has no notebooks for their arts and crafts project, it's up to Marie to change that.

Saturday, when Mom had an off day Marie walked up to her and asked if they could go and buy more art supplies.

Mom laughed at first, wondering if they have used up everything in yesterday’s art-craft frenzy. Marie confidently told her that no, they were very economic in their pursuit of artistic expression – something that Mom doubts the moment she started talking about it, but she chose to not call her out on it. However, they were in a dire need of new notebooks for their future scrapbooking endeavors. And if they are there already they can get a new set of watercolors and pencils for Uncle.

Mom had to give it to her, that was sweet to gesture.

She was relieved that Marie started to warm up to her uncle. In turn, Jonathan seemed to thaw up as well and started showing the softer side to him, which was reassuring considering how things went before. 

So she gave in and she took Marie to the closest store. Marie was excited to shop, like every time. She let her take the reigns as she knew the best what they needed; she only gently corrected her to not buy things that they might not be able to use. Satisfied, they returned home with one heavy bag full of art supplies and notebooks and all other stuff that Marie deemed important and Mom gave her blessing for.

Marie didn’t waste her time running into the living room and present her uncle with the gift notebook. He seemed genuinely happy with the gift. That was a reassuring sign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more from the Mom's perspective. Her name is Alice, it's just not mentioned in this chapter.


	14. Pritt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan is having a rough night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what pritt is, but the internet tells me it can be slang for ugly so that's what I went with.

One late night Uncle Jonathan was still up and about. The TV was on to some documentary that he didn’t really care much to pay attention to – the volume was way down, it was only a faint noise in the background.

What he was looking at was his sketchbook. 

Not that long ago he was filled with warm love for the thing, now he was looking at it with a new, much darker perspective. 

Suddenly, gone were the memories of peace and quiet of drawing on the sidewalk, blissfully unaware of the fact that when he returns home he will just grab his bottles and drink until he couldn’t get up the next day. Now all he could remember were the days spent mindlessly laying in bed, lamenting his life, ignoring his personal needs like eating and showering. He just didn’t have the energy to get up, nor could he find a reason to do it.

How stupid he was back then, wasting the day away when he could have gone out and got a job just like everybody else. Literally, every other person could do it, but him. It was always him, isn’t it? He was dumb, selfish – he only cared about his cigarettes and alcohol. 

As he flipped through the pages his thought started to wander back to that time. The further he got into the sketchbook the closer he got to the date he jumped. 

In a sudden burst of anger, he threw the book across the room.

He immediately regretted it.

He waited just to see if he woke up anybody, but nothing happened. 

Getting up was harder than before as if something more was keeping him down than broken bones. 

He picked up the sketchbook – poor thing, it really didn’t deserve to be treated like that just because its owner was an idiot. He tried to smoothen out the crumpled pages. There he goes again, ruining things that are important for him.

He made his way back to the couch and he felt more tired. Incredibly tired.

The sketchbook was put on the coffee table and he laid down on the couch. 

He still couldn’t sleep.


	15. Spit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan is taken to therapy. He is mad that it's even happening at all. Benjamin just wants to help, even if that makes his brother hate him.

It felt like being spit in the face. 

Jonathan knew that it was inevitable that he would be dragged to therapy sooner or later. It was only a matter of time that his scheduled sessions were in order and as soon he got better the hospital would order him – or more correctly his brother – to attend them like a nice little obedient child. As if he was known to do what was expected of him, he wouldn’t be jobless if that was the case, now would he?

He was riding shotgun in his brother’s car, and he did his best to not look at him. Instead like a mad child, he was staring at the window at the passing scenery.

In turn, Benjamin looks as guilty as one could be.

“I know you don’t like it,” he said. “But she only wants to help you.”

“It’s her job,” he said back with all the displeasure he could muster. 

“Please, just… try to be nice to her, alright?” 

Jonathan didn’t answer. He would be beating himself up for this later but right now he just wanted to sulk – because that’s a great first impression to give to anyone, he thought sarcastically.

They pulled into the parking lot.

Benjamin hesitated to get out; he looked as if he wanted to say something, maybe some pep talk. 

“I know that you hate me now,” he started. “But I’m only doing this to help you. I want you to get better. I don’t want to lose you.”

Jonathan didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Please…”

“How much is this going to cost?”

“Jon, don’t-“

“I don’t want you to waste your money on me. You should let me handle this.”

“No, you don’t get a chance to get out of this one. I know you are trying to find a reason to not do this. If it was up to you you wouldn’t even be here!”

That did the work to shut Jonathan up. He did know that his brother was just trying to help. He made it his sole purpose to get his brother’s life back on the right track – as if it was on the right track, to begin with. He just didn’t want to be a bother. But to make his brother happy he would swallow his pride.

Both of them got out of the car and he got ready to face the inevitable.


	16. Anxious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beating yourself up over things you can't control is a family trait, so it seems.

Benjamin was sitting in the waiting room of the mental health professional his brother had to meet. He promised that he would wait for him to finish the very first meeting. He promised that he would be here if he was needed and he promised to be here for several other meetings as well as long as Jonathan needed him.

He knew that he wasn’t there for his brother when he needed him the most. After he got kicked out Benjamin got more closed off than ever. He concentrated on his studies and profession, he went to college, he managed to finish it with his increasingly distant father who supported him – out of what Benjamin could think is guilt over losing one son already. He started working as an editor for a publisher; he found his amazing wife, got married, had a daughter, and moved into their dream home along with his family. You could say that everything just went right for him if you compare him to his brother.

The reality was that he thought that his brother would be fine.

After all, he was the confident one, the bright one, the one who always dragged Benjamin around getting them to do fun stuff while he was the shy, mousy kid people always overlooked. Jonathan was the lively one; he thought he was going to be fine. And so he didn’t go to look for him – he wouldn’t even know where to start, but that wasn’t an excuse.

All of that is what took them here.

If it wasn’t for the phone call from the hospital he wouldn’t even know what happened.

So yes, he was nervous, beyond anxious. He still didn’t know what he should do or how to handle the situation. First, he wanted to do what was needed to be done: getting his brother to a good place, no matter how much he is fighting it. Because in Benjamin’s humble opinion he should have tried to reconnect with his long-lost brother the moment his own life settled into a comfortable flow with his little family. 

But he didn’t. It was as if he completely forgot about him. And yes, he knows that he isn’t responsible for his brother’s actions, he didn’t have that kind of power over him. He didn’t do anything bad or wrong. But he still thinks that he could have done better.

And here he was now, trying his best. He is going to try his best as long as it was needed.


	17. Callous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are people out there who live only with the regret of their actions. It could be worse, they could not care at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wonder, this is how the hospital knew who to call in chapter 1.

In a small rundown apartment sat an old man alone. He was sitting by the open window, the ashtray sat on the sill and the cigarette was carelessly burning between his fingers. 

For ages, this house was empty except for this one old man living here all alone. A long time ago two children lived here. Two children, he thoroughly let down. He knew he failed. It was evident the minute he kicked out one son, then when the other one left and only ever called on holidays.

But it never was as evident when his phone started ringing on a seemingly innocent everyday night. The son he long chased away was in the hospital, but his emergency contact was till his father’s house.

He didn’t know what to think about that. It could be only a coincidence, maybe he forgot to change it after he left. But maybe deep down he wanted to return, someday. Maybe it was a last line of defense, a silver lining, the road to redemption if everything happened to fall apart. But it might be too late now.

Once they called he knew that he did not deserve to be the one to pick up the pieces of his son’s ruined life. He would do more harm than good. 

So he did the next best thing he could do. He gave them his smallest son’s number and begged them to call him, to get him to help.

He never begged anybody in his life.

Since then he couldn’t sleep with a peaceful mind. 

Years of selfish behavior started to culminate all around him. All the lives he helped bring down, the guilt brought upon his head. He deserved it all. He is reaping what he sown

He sighed deeply, and then he took another drag from his cigarette. The smoke filled the kitchen despite the open window. The breeze blew it in.

There is nothing he could do now. 

He was sitting there, living the life that he made.


	18. Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With her Uncle having to go to the hospital for a checkup, Marie is left home to figure out a gift for them when they get back home.

Marie wasn’t a fan of doctors. She couldn’t imagine anybody is too happy to go and see them. Sure, her Mom was a nurse, so she knows that they are good people only wanting to help others and who worked really hard to get where they are today. However, that doesn’t mean that she has to be happy about getting shots or having to eat bitter-tasting medicine. 

So she couldn’t imagine that Uncle Jonathan wasn’t any happier to be taken to the hospital for a checkup. Actually, he was very vocal about how unhappy he is about it.

So Marie, as the one who was being left behind, was at a loss of what to do. She asked if she could go with them as support for Uncle but both Uncle and Mom turned her down, telling her that she wouldn’t like it – they were right, but still. She was left thinking about what she could do to brighten their day when they returned.

The best she could do was to draw them something nice. 

She knew that Mom loved flowers, so she draws her in her nurse outfit, surrounded by pretty pink and purple flowers. They were just like the ones they have in the garden. Marie knew that she is going to love it; maybe it is even going to be pinned on the fridge like other artworks. 

For Uncle, well that was a bit trickier. She didn’t know him long enough to know what he liked. But then she remembered his sketchbook that was filled with pretty pictures of streets. That’s right! Uncle liked ‘cityscapes’ – as he called them.

It was a tall order to be sure; however, Marie was never one to turn down a challenge.

She took her pencil and her paper, along with a little chair and along with Granny, they sat outside in their tiny garden. Marie started drawing the street as she saw it – she used the things she learned from Uncle to make the picture as perfect as it could be. It was the very first 'serious' picture she made and it is amazing.

Granny said so as well.

Once Mom and Uncle got back they were presented with the gifts. Needless to say, they were more than happy to get them.


	19. Punctual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan continues to be difficult.

Jonathan was taken to the therapy meetings two times a week, exactly at one o’clock punctual on the minute. That was the courtesy of Benjamin, ever so prim and proper, anxious to be on time. 

Needless to say, he wasn’t happy about it. Yet he went along – mainly because he was obligated to and he owed it to Benjamin after coming to his aid. 

Still, opening up about his problems was, to simply put it, something he was just not capable of. Sure, he had an easier time talking about his past – facts were facts, and denying them would be simply foolish. But he was hell-bent on putting up barriers to not let anybody in, not even those who try to help him. At this point, this defense mechanism is so ingrained that he can’t just shake it that easily.

Everybody was patient with him. That didn’t make him feel better over it.

He started feeling childish for holding out on them like that, but his stubbornness was still holding for the time being.

So he arrives time and time again to his appointments and goes through the set of questions he is presented with, as well as a gentle reminder that he needs to be more open if he wants to make a full recovery. He was already put on anti-depressants, which he takes only because he has a family that is way too invested in his health, and he was proven too weak to go against them. Rest assured, if he was shipped back to his apartment he would gleeful ignore everything professionals tell him and he would be back where he was.

Saying that it dawned on him that it is better for him to be where he is right now. It is the best-case scenario at the moment – the best-best case scenario would be if the whole situation didn’t come to this, but here they are.


	20. Fortitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice is not sure about how the future will turn out.

It was Alice’s turn to take Jonathan to the doctor.

Out of the whole family, she was probably the only person who barely spends any time with her suddenly appearing brother-in-law. Since he arrived their life had become hectic, not that she was blaming him for anything. She was a practicing nurse for eight years now; she had seen her fair share of horrible, heartbreaking cases, she had nothing but compassion for people in hard situations.

But she had never been on the other side of the situation. Sure, she did everything she could as a nurse, then she went home and gave thanks to whatever powers watched over them that her family was happy, healthy, and going strong. But that never stopped her from fearing the day when something inevitably goes wrong.

And this was the day, it seems.

Sure, Jonathan was a member of the family she didn’t know anything about before he came crashing into their lives – some would question how much of a family member he was, but she won’t be opening that conversation right now. That didn’t change the fact that she has to take care of somebody now who decidedly was not okay. She was just glad that everybody seemed to be taking it in a stride, despite the rocky beginning.

That didn’t mean that Alice was not blind to the situation at hand. It was clear as day to see that Jonathan wasn’t happy to be around them, he wasn’t happy to be around in general. For goodness sake, the man tried to kill himself, expecting him to dance in joy over being reunited with family he didn’t know he had, who now dot over him and expect him to make a full recovery and play along was frankly laughable. It was understandable, at least to her, that he was mad.

He had this wall built up around him. Now, everybody is working on breaking it down against his will, of course, it would make him tense and irritated.

She did her best to explain this to Benjamin. The poor guy thinks everything is his fault, which isn’t out of character for him – maybe she should convince him to seek help for that, it could only help.

The next issue was the money. Jonathan’s medical bills are going to be a nightmare. They have some money put aside, but the combined salary of a nurse and an editor will hardly be enough to cover it in a whole. Jonathan said that he still had some money in the bank, but he was saving it for rent for the year – meaning it would only last him till December and that’s it. That was hardly enough. He was unemployed and without any former education he was not qualified for anything. He is an artist – she learned this from Marie – and a talented one at that so there might be some future prospect right there, but it seems that they would be paying these bills for some years.

Jonathan was obviously deeply ashamed of it. He tried to convince them to not take on anything, which would be the reasonable thing to do. But if Alice could tell him her honest opinion, if they let Jonathan take on the financial burden he would take it and go jump off a higher bridge with them. But she knew better than to say that to his face.

Obviously, they are going to figure out what they are going to do. They are going to get Jonathan back on his feet, figure out what he can do for money and go on from there. At least that was Alice’s immediate solution to the problem.

She just only wanted to make the awkward silence between them disappear. But that won’t happen from one day to another. But she is going to stick around. Of course, she is going to.

It’s the best she can do. She won’t abandon a person in need.


	21. Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A routine cleaning is interrupted by the presence of a very scary spider.

Granny decided that today was a wonderful day to clean out the pantry. 

Marie disagreed; they already had it cleaned out when they did spring cleaning and what was the point in spring cleaning if you do it all the time. And besides, she was sure that a big spider made a nest in there and she wasn’t going to go near it. Granny only said that it’s all the more reason to do some cleaning – after all she didn’t want to fight an infestation of spiders every time they wanted to get something to eat. 

Marie didn’t have anything better to do, so she was roped into helping.

Surprisingly – or not so considering how much he has changed in the last couple of days – Uncle volunteered to help. 

Unsurprisingly he wasn’t much help. He only had one working hand and he barely could stand on his feet. But Granny managed to find a use for him. She made him sit on a chair by the pantry door and he could put the cans on the kitchen counter as Granny or Marie handed it off to him. After that, he had no other real job to do so he organized the cans into a neat little pyramid.

It impressed Marie.

Then the worst things happened. The spider was real, and she was hiding in the corner huddling protectively over an egg-sack under her body. 

Marie wanted it gone as she was very, very, very scary. She didn’t know that she would be able to even step into the pantry again if it stayed there. 

Granny also agreed that it needed to go, because if the eggs hatch they will need to deal with them. It was better to take care of the problem now rather than later. So she asked Uncle to kill it for them. Marie couldn’t let that happen. Even if the spider was the scariest thing she saw, killing it was just mean. And she also had babies!

Granny and Uncle looked at each other and silently dared the other to make a decision. But in the end, none had the heart to tell the little girl that spiders were pests when inside the house, and killing one isn’t the end of the world. 

Uncle decided to get up; he asked if he can take an old can from recycling. He also asked Marie to go and get him a paper.

Once he was armed with the items he made his way into the pantry. Then he emerged holding the can with the paper over it. The spider was officially captured.

Next came the hard part. What should they do with her?

If they put it outside, into their tiny garden, she would just find her way back inside – or worse, into one of the neighbor’s houses, and then they would be responsible for their spider infestation, as Marie pointed it out so graciously. As the adult was playing by her rules they tried to come up with an idea where they can get rid of the spider in a way that won’t bother anybody.

That’s when Uncle came up with a genius idea. 

Not far from them there was a little park with a playground. He had seen it when they took a short walk outside some days ago. Marie often went there to play on the swings with the other kids. But most importantly there was plenty of green space there for the spider to enjoy to her heart’s content. Needless to say, Marie was all for it, and Granny was happy that the problem seemed to be solved – even if they have to stop the cleaning to escort the spider outside, but they deserve a bit of a rest.

When they released her, the spider sprinted away into the grass. If she was grateful or not, they couldn’t tell, but Granny reassured Marie that she was happy to be out of the pantry. 

Satisfied with the good deed they deemed that Marie can play on the swings for a couple of minutes while the adults sat down to enjoy the sun a bit.

Later, they finished their job in the blink of an eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More family bonding!


	22. Beer is here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice thinks that it's high time for her and Jonathan to do some bonding, to get to know each other better.

As it was previously established Alice and Jonathan had a none-existing relationship. 

That is not to say that the two of them don’t talk, or even go out of their way to not spend time in each other’s company. No, their paths simply do not cross. But the fact remained that they didn’t talk enough, not enough for two people living in the same house – not to mention being family. They only ever talk when it was Alice's turn to takes Jonathan to his therapy sessions or to the hospital checkups. 

It was a stupid feeling, but Alice started to fear that Jonathan doesn’t talk with her because he – somehow – associates her with the things he does not like to do. 

Of course, Jonathan wasn’t a child to have such simple reasoning. But that doesn’t change the fact that they don’t have any normal interactions – normal in the sense of everyday comings and goings. When he goes to therapy or to the doctor he is confronted with the heavy reality of his situation, not to mention his problems. He always comes out silent and with a scowl on his face. He would slouch in the seat and be quite listless. He would talk if she prompted something, as long as it wasn’t about what they were talking about. Then he would try to collect himself so that Marie wouldn’t question him – he had learned that the girl wasn’t as gracious as to let him wallow in his misery and she would prod him as long as she needed. 

Jonathan didn’t have a reason to talk with Alice. And Alice didn’t have any reason to talk with Jonathan. But being a family meant that you talked no matter if you had a reason to do so or not. So that’s why a very confused Jonathan is riding shotgun with Alice in the driver seat going to the supermarket. 

They needed to make their monthly bigger grocery shopping and Alice sensing a reason to get her brother-in-law out of the house she asked if he wanted to help her. 

Jonathan wasn’t convinced in the beginning. His leg was still broken and he still walked around slow as a snail and leaning on his crutch. His arm on the other hand healed enough to hold not too heavy objects. But he also wanted to get out of the house and do something productive so she didn’t need to convince him for long. After all, even the doctor said that he can start walking around to get his strength back, so that was a good excuse to use to convince him. 

“I just don’t understand why you need me here?” he asked as they walked the spacious supermarket.

Alice pushed the cart, minding how slow Jonathan was. And she was also the one who mostly did the shopping; he only stood around awkwardly and did whatever Alice asked of him.

“I mean, no offense, but I think even Granny would be more useful than me,” he continued on, “heck, even the kid could do better. I have no idea about Benny, but I guess you would be the better judge of that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him. “I wanted to do this with you. I can imagine that you were itching to get out of the house and go somewhere new.”

“Well, you aren’t wrong there. Is this a handout then?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Hey, I’m not saying it to be mean. Actually, I really appreciate it, I guess I’m shitty at showing it,” he laughed shyly.

It was painfully obvious that he was having a hard time dealing with the situation. He desperately didn’t want to get on her bad side. Not as if he could – he would have needed to try harder than trying to politely get information out of her. She knew that he tried to find the reason why he was here. So Alice decided to play with her cards face up.

“You know what I noticed? We barely talk.”

“Yeah, it’s not hard to see,” he agreed. “We don’t exactly have many things in common. I mean look at you! You are a successful nurse, aren’t you?”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t call it successful, but I do pretty well for myself.”

“Yeah, I bet you have to deal with assholes like me all the time,” he said. “Good grief, I’m horrible, aren’t I?”

“Oh don’t be so hard on yourself. I had worse than a grown man sulking, although it being in my own house was a new thing.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be, I get it.”

“So, that’s why we are here? Quality family bonding?”

“Something like that,” Alice admitted. “Does it bother you?”

“No, not at all,” he said and he looked as if he meant it. “I just didn’t know what was going on, you know? You put me on edge. I thought I did something wrong. Like, more wrong than before. Or maybe that I’m going to get what I deserve for being a little shit head when moving in with you.”

“I would never do anything to you, you know that, right?”

“You should,” he said. “I still haven’t even apologized for my behavior. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” 

“Well, I think you are doing just fine.”

The rest of their shopping went in a better mood than before. Jonathan still couldn’t help as much as he might have wanted to, but Alice reminded him to not push himself as it would only hurt him more than helping. Thankfully he listened to her.

At the end of their shopping, they decided that they can afford some nice little things for themselves as well.

Alice got some chocolate for Marie, and a bottle of wine to share between the grownups. However, Jonathan looked at the bottle with concern. Ah, yes, she remembers. Jonathan was an alcoholic, he probably shouldn’t have any. She still asked him what he wanted to do.

Jonathan, looking guilty, admitted that he missed beer. It was his go-to drink when he got home, then it became his lifeline after everything started going downhill. Alice was frank with him and told him that he really shouldn’t get anything alcoholic. She asked if he had some snack he liked or maybe some soda. But Jonathan only wanted a beer. Alice could tell that he was on the verge of begging for it. 

Alice felt bad for denying him after having a decent time with him. So she gave in – she knew she shouldn’t, but the deal was that she will only get him one, that’s it, and he can’t as much as look at it while Marie is awake.

Jonathan was grateful. Thanking her every few minutes or so.

Alice drew home with a conflicted feeling on her chest. She felt as if she both succeeded and failed the day at the same time.


	23. Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He is a wise man, he knows not to go where he isn't wanted.

Wisdom should come with age. Or so that’s what people expect to happen once you become old and decrepit.

When those days come people imagine themselves in their dream home surrounded by their family being happy and accomplished. They expect that fire that burned in their soul as they lived from day to day, quieting down. When you are old you should have figured life out, at least that’s how the story should end. But life is nothing like a storybook, and if you wait for something to magically come along and figure all your problems out for you you won’t get anywhere. Life just flows away and you are left with your problems, only now you don’t even have the strength to do anything about it.

Wisdom is knowing better than anybody else.

But knowing better comes from a lifetime of trials and errors. While you are young and life is ahead of you, you think you have all of this figured out, that you won’t fall into the same pitfalls your parents did. The next thing you know is that you are too tired and too disappointed and too irritated to anything different than them.

And what is after that?

You are left all alone, afraid to reach out for forgiveness. 

The right thing would be to pick up the phone and try to reconnect with his sons, to apologize. But wisdom is knowing that he would not be welcomed.


	24. Slut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan feels guilty over his actions. Benny just wants to know what his brother is going through.

Jonathan knows that he shouldn’t have asked for it. The beer. 

He knew he fucked up the moment they arrived home and Alice put the bottle into the fridge. Granny had seen it and of course, she asked about it. Nobody drunk beer in the house – they were the occasional wine drinkers, and even that was rare – so it was clear as day whose it was. 

Granny wasn’t afraid to voice her disapproval; Alice tried to pacify her mother. Eventually, she gave in, but he couldn’t drink it while Marie was around and that was a hard rule both women refused to budge over.

Jonathan knew he should have been ashamed. He knew his brother certainly was when he came home and Granny didn’t waste any minute to tell him. 

Benjamin apologized because of him.

The old him would shrug his shoulder and say that they are overreacting. After all, it was only one beer, how bad can it be. But he was an alcoholic, a serious, getting drunk from dawn till dusk, and so on kind of alcoholic. One beer could be nothing for a normal person. For him, it could mean a one-way ticket straight back into drinking till he couldn’t see straight. 

And that thought could let him sleep that night.

His guilty conscience was keeping him awake as he was torn between wanting to down that bottle as if his life depended on it, and wanting to get rid of it and pretend it never happened. That’s why he got up and got that damned thing. He set it down on the coffee table and he sat there in the darkness contemplating what to do.

He wanted to drink it. He was itching for it so bad and his throat was already feeling dry just by looking at the brown bottle that sat dull and matt on the table – only a dark shape in the darkness of the room.

For weeks he didn’t even think about it. As strange as that was. He didn’t know how he could do that, it seemed impossible now. And he felt like an idiot, like a weak dumbass who couldn’t control his desires. He was a fucking horrible human being who only had one thing to do, to get his sad miserable life back together, and he couldn’t even do that.

A door closed with a quiet click. Benjamin, quietly like he was approaching a skittish animal, walked into the room.

“Jon…?”

Jonathan let out a long sigh.

“Are you alright?” Benny asked. He slowly sat down into the armchair as if to subtly tell him that he won’t be leaving until he did what he came here to do.

“What do you think?” he said with more bite than he intended. But to give Benjamin some credit he didn’t even seem fazed by this, after all, he had an entire childhood dealing with his stupidity on top of their father’s stupidity. This thought only made Jonathan feel guiltier.

“You look as if you aren’t holding up pretty good.”

“Me? Never.”

“Jon, please,” he pleaded with him and Jonathan could never say no to his little brother. “You can tell me what bothers you.”

Jonathan remained silent.

“I mean,” he continued. “You were doing so well. I thought we were working through things - that you are getting better. What happened?”

Jonathan sighed. 

“I don’t know,” he said as he was still staring at the shape of the bottle. He only vaguely recognized the dark form of his brother in the dark sitting in the armchair. “I don’t even know how to explain it.”

“Can you at least try?”

There was a long silence again. The words were stuck in his throat, and when he spoke again he sounded haunted as if he was the old man he never thought he would live to be.

“Alice was so nice, all day,” he started to explain. “Not as if she wasn’t nice before, it’s just, you know, new,” he imagined that Benny nodded in the dark. “And when she asked if I need something I- I don’t know what came over me. I just felt like I could or I should? I don’t know.”

“Why?”

“I was thinking about it. Off and on again, I mean, but I never felt as if I needed to drink again. I don’t know what came over me, but maybe one part of me just wanted to take that gamble.”

“Gamble?”

“Yeah,” Jonathan said as if agreeing would explain what he meant. “I mean, if I could get my hand on just one I would be happy, or so I thought. But I think I also wanted her to, I don’t know; hold me responsible no matter what happens.”

“Did you want her to say no to you? Or something like that?” Benny asked. “Because Alice told me that she did that and you started begging.”

“I thought I had the right,” he said then sighed again. “I’m horrible.”

“You aren’t.”

“I am.”

“Jon-“

“I’m a mess, Benny,” Jonathan said. “I’m not who you think I am. I’m not somebody who can climb back up once they get down. Heck, I know this better than anybody. I tried to get up on my feet my whole life. Then I realized that I won’t make it and I just stopped trying. I gave up.”

Never in his life was Jonathan this honest. He never told anybody about what he was going through or how he felt about things. Not to the professional he was seeing, not his brother who was the only family member he had and held close, not even to himself if he had to be honest.

He was sure that Benny didn’t know what to do now. Just like him, both of them were lost.

“Jonathan,” he finally started. “I know that you don’t feel great. But look at you; you were doing so well so far. I could even say that you are doing well even now. You are opening up about what you feel. That has to count for something.”

Jonathan shrugged – he didn’t know if Benjamin saw it.

“From where I stand it all looks like the same kind of hopeless.”

“How did it get this bad?”

“I don’t know. I just… I just fell.”

“You fell.”

“Somewhere along the line.”

They remained sitting there in silence for a couple more minutes until Benjamin got up and told Jonathan that he was tired and he wanted to go to sleep. Jonathan didn’t say a word to him as he left and he remained sitting, staring at the black shape of the bottle on the coffee table long after he heard the door to the bedroom close. 

Then he stood up and grabbed the bottle.

In the dark of the kitchen, he started pouring the liquid down on the sink. He was longing for every drop of it, but he listened to it trickle down the drain in the deadly silence. 

He slept with a heavy heart later.


	25. Pity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benjamin is afraid that he lost sight of things along the way.

This was a disaster. Benjamin was lost on what to do. 

He realizes now that he had become too comfortable with the whole situation and he pushed everything that brought them here to the back of his head. It was easier to not think about it, to pretend that everything was fine – as if he didn’t take turns with his wife to drive his brother to his various appointments. It was easier to forget about it when nothing obviously wrong was going on. But in the end, he was only play pretending that everything was all nice and fine.

And thinking like this meant that he was back to pitying his brother for the sad turn his life took. 

Benjamin hurried to not show what he felt; he knew that it would only turn Jonathan away. He was always like that, pulling away at the first sign of concern aimed at him. It was the very first thing Benjamin had to relearn once they were reunited that night. Cuddling him only made him frustrated and lash out. 

Now Benny would have preferred if he lashed out. Then he would know what to do. 

Seeing his brother like this: lost and so unsure of himself, made him feel just as small and lost as he is.

He needed to sleep. Fretting over this in the middle of the night helped nobody. Tomorrow he could start with talking with Jonathan, really talking with him. And they can start to sort things out.


	26. Volcano

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battling with guilt, Jonathan is about to make a very stupid decision.

It was fascinating to watch a volcano explode. So much raw power, packed into what you can only imagine as a tight chasm that couldn’t take the pressure of the world any longer and it finally blew out. The sky is clouded with smoke as ash fell below, spreading everywhere. Magma flies like a splashing water fountain as the rest gushed out of the top. The heat must be unbearable; it could set you on fire just by standing too close to it. And then everything was destroyed.

That was the feeling that started growing in Jonathan as he was lying on the couch, sleepless, that night. His heart lit up like a volcano with feelings that burned up his whole body, making him tremble deep within his chest.

He choked on a sob he tried to suffocate out of existence. His nose filled up with gunk and he could barely breathe. He was sobbing and he was dying. 

Something in him broke. And over something as insignificant as a bottle of beer he shouldn’t have even laid eyes on, and a stupid conversation with his brother, who he had seen more in the last month than in the last however many years. But then again you never had a say in what was the last straw.

In the end, it was inevitable that he would break. 

He got up – he couldn’t stand lying on the couch for another minute. 

Instead, he paced around the room, quietly, limping, trying to not panic with decreasing success. He felt the walls closing in on him and breathing became hard – all over a bottle, he thought. He could name a thousand things that he thought about himself right now. But the best one must be pathetic – useless, arrogant, unlovable, a burden on his brother and his family. He was dragging them down into his mess, he couldn’t even do the decent thing and not suffocate anybody in his misery, but no, here he was leeching off of the goodwill of good people like the lowlife that he was. These people didn’t deserve to deal with the mess that was his life, his impulses, his inability to live a normal life like every other god damn human being on this planet. Yet here he was putting them through it anyway. If he had one decent bone in his body he wouldn’t let this go on. They were so kind, they just wanted to help, and despite doing his best he started to like them – love them even. That only gave him more reason to not put them through this. They didn’t deserve any of it.

Jonathan’s eyes suddenly landed on the backpack. 

It collected dust propped up against the armchair since the day he arrived. It never got into the way so it never got moved and through all those weeks it never got unpacked either. 

The contents were meager, to say the least: his sketchbook, the new notebook given to him, a pack of old unopened gums; his cigarettes, half full and untouched as he was afraid that Granny would come for his head if he even tried to light a match; a lighter to go with it, a pencil holder with three meager pencils, an eraser, and a Swiss knife he mostly used to sharpen the pencils; then his wallet buried at the very bottom with his id and all 75 crumpled dollars to his name.

Those were all the possessions he deemed worthy to take with him. He didn’t know what he was thinking back then. Maybe that somehow, miraculously he would need them in the afterlife. But he was glad now that he took them. He took a moment to open up and leaf through the sketchbook, his tears started falling uncontrollably then.

At that moment, he decided that he couldn’t take it. He was weak.

Marie woke up in the middle of the night to a strange feeling. 

She couldn’t really place what was bothering her. She didn’t have any strange dream that would wake her up, and as she listened the house was silent like it is every night without exception. Still, there was this feeling of something being misplaced. Maybe, she should get up and check up on it, make sure that everything was as in order as it needed to be. But her eyes were tired and droopy and another part of her – the one that was winning the debate with a landslide – was telling her that she was only dreaming and she should go back to sleep. So Marie determined that it was only her imagination playing tricks on her. 

But if she spent some time thinking about it, she would say that it felt awful lot like the night they got the phone call from the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four more chapters left to go.


	27. Dulche de leche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning.

The next morning Marie slept in. She didn’t know why, usually she woke with the sun, but today it seemed that her body decided that some extra hours were good for her. 

The stranger thing was that her parents allowed her to sleep in. Usually, they insisted she gets up in time for breakfast so that they can spend that time of the day together as they never knew when work would become hectic for them. And usually, Marie would be too awake by the time she finished breakfast to go back to sleep.

Sitting up in her bed she could smell that there was something sweet being made in the kitchen. 

Not wasting any time she jumped up and rushed down the stairs in her pajamas. 

“Guess what?! I slept in!” she announced as if that was something she should be proud to announce.

In the kitchen, Granny was working on something. She was standing by the stove steering a pot full of milk that was giving off the sweet smell. Dulche de leche, Marie remembered. Granny’s grandmother used to make this all the time when she was younger – as Marie was told, - Mom used to love it when she was a little girl, but as she grew up she started to lose her sweet tooth, and Dad never really like sugar that much. So this became something that Granny only made on special occasions for only her and Marie. 

“Good morning, darling,” she glanced at her then back at the pot. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah,” she said, “but why did Mom and Dad let me sleep in? They never let me.”

Granny hesitated to say anything and Marie started to get a bad feeling in her stomach.

“Did something happen?”

“I’m afraid, dear, it did,” Granny answered slowly. “Your Mom and Dad had to go out early today.”

That meant that something serious must have happened, just like on the night Mom and Dad had to go to the hospital for Uncle’s sake. That reminded her, where was Uncle? 

She walked into the living room without any thought. 

“Marie,”

But the room was empty.

The bad feeling in her stomach crept up into her chest. Her mind was racing with ideas. If Mom and Dad had to go out early, which could mean that there was something very important going on, and Uncle was always in the living room, always. It sort of became his room; after all, there wasn’t any other place for him to go in their little house.

“Granny?” Marie asked as she turned back to her. “Did something happen to Uncle?”

She looked sad as she poured two cups of the sweetened milk. “We don’t know,” she said “Your Uncle left during the night. Nobody knows where he is.”

Granny sat down at the table, she prompted Marie to sit by her. By her expression, Marie could tell that there was something very serious she wanted to tell her.

“Like how he tried to run away once?”

“No, this is more serious than that.” 

That couldn’t be good. “I don’t get it. Weren’t we getting along? Why would Uncle want to run away again?”

Granny looked at the clock, then at the door, as if she was anticipating the arrival of someone. “Marie, we didn’t really talk about what happened to your Uncle, yes?”

“You told me that he was hurt.”

“And that’s true. But there is something more going on with him as well. Currently he- I don’t know how I should explain this to you.”

Marie waited for her Granny to continue. She knew that there was something behind a curtain she couldn’t look through because she was too young to do so. And because the adults concluded that she couldn’t understand what was happening, or that she shouldn’t know about it. This is her opinion was just the worst thing they could do to her. She was left in the dark and she hated it.

“Right now, your Uncle is sick, sort of.”

“How?”

“He isn’t thinking right because he is sick. And that caused him to get hurt.”

“When he tried to kill himself?”

“…Yes," she said slowly, as she seemed to remember that Marie was there as well when Uncle told them everything. He didn't say it that clearly, but Marie could understand it anyway. It must have caught her off guard.

“And Mom and Dad went to find him?”

“Yes, and they also called the police. Two officers came over to help look for him.”

Marie brightened at that. That was good news! After all, the cops were the good guys; if Uncle was sick they would hurry and try to find him as fast as they can. However, Granny didn’t seem to be too happy. This was again the adult stuff that she couldn’t know about.

Well, it was up to her to make things right. She left to gather her papers and everything she needed because when Uncle gets back they should have a nice drawing to give him. Granny told her that she couldn’t draw, an excuse that usually worked on her, but not today. It didn’t take long to convince her to put in her share of the work. After all, she had a good eye for color.


	28. Adverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonathan knows he is making a mistake, but he can't stop himself now, not when he made up his mind.

He grabbed his bag, the only thing he is going to need. But before he left he called a taxi to the street. 

The driver was concerned seeing him, obviously distressed with a crutch, a cast on his leg, and a single flimsy bag on his back. Jonathan knew he was crying and it was fucking obvious. The driver asked if he wanted to go to the hospital or if he needed anything. Jonathan just told him his address and to his credit, the driver took him there silently. He took his money and Jonathan had the inkling of an idea that he undercharged him. He couldn’t find it in himself to argue about it right now.

He just came here to take one last look at his house. He thinks his landlord was long informed about what happened, he was surprised that he still had his house, but to be fair it was still filled with his stuff. But that didn’t matter; he only needed a couple of things. 

He founded it all rather quickly. The house was also cleaned out: the bottles he piled up were gone and the layer of dust collecting on the furniture was thinner than it used to be.

On his way out he locked the door and threw his key in through the mail hatch. His landlord had a copy after all and he didn’t really care about it anymore.

It hurt him to leave it all behind. But it had to be done. 

After that, it was only him and the warm summer night. He walked until he reached the city limits. Here he did his best to get the wretched cast off of his leg – another mistake he is going to make in his life, but who the fuck was counting by now.

That night he found solace on the lap of the river bed in the middle of nowhere. 

Not far from him he could hear the quiet hum of the highway. Somewhere close to him he could hear the cicadas buzzing about; he needed to swat away some flies and who knows what other bugs that landed on him. The last thing he remembers was watching a frog idling by the shore, wetting its belly in the water while watching the flies with its huge brown eyes. Then he fell asleep as he was, there in the grass. 

Marie remembered that that night she could hear her Dad sobbing in the kitchen while her Mom tried to calm him down. Her Uncle wasn’t found that day, or the day after, or after. She overheard the officers, they had to stop the investigation, and there was nothing for them to do. 

Two weeks later a postcard arrived, it was off a pretty painting of a mountain and, most importantly, it came from Uncle.

He was fine, he said, but he had to leave. He was glad to know them, and he is sorry.

Marie wanted to put it on the fridge so that they can always remember him, and so they can show him once he returns back home. However, Mom pulled it down and put it away into a drawer where they kept family photos and similar things. She said it was so that it wouldn’t get yellow in the kitchen. Marie was mad but she forgot about it soon.

In her head, it didn’t matter. She was sure that Uncle will be back one day.


	29. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie knew that she would see her Uncle again.

Two years passed since Jonathan, the uncle Marie had no idea she had, moved into their home for a short while. It was an experience she didn’t think she would ever be able to forget. For days she waited for his return But then life continued to move on, and as they settled into the new norm of having a new family member, they got used to losing one just as quickly. 

Marie too moved on with life. 

Her thoughts wandered to her uncle less and less. Occasionally she took out the drawings she made under her uncle’s tutelage. They remained one of her treasured possessions.

It was nice to reminisce about all these things they did together. Even if since the postcard was put away she didn’t hear her parents talk about Uncle again.

She was ten years old when another postcard has arrived. It was of a pretty picture of a mountain, and on the other side, there was a letter written in familiar handwriting. 

It started with an apology, for not writing for two years and how he must have worried them to death. But now he felt himself strong and confident enough to talk to them again. He managed to turn his life around – not completely, of course, two years is a short time to do that, but he had a new job now, he worked at a grocery store in a small town. It was not much, but he could afford to rent and his boss allowed him to sell some drawings in the store so he could get by. He was drawing a lot more than he used to, and he is happier than he used to be He felt like he was getting somewhere finally and if they allow him he would like to meet them again, to start over and to introduce himself as he should have done centuries ago.

Dad was in tears reading it, Mom and Granny were relieved. 

And Marie, well, she was already getting ready for the big occasion.


	30. Acre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They didn't expect a happy ending, yet here they are.

The big occasion happened on a warm Saturday morning in an ordinary acre of land that was designated as a park for friends and families to come and appreciate the beauty of nature. 

The morning, early in the dawn, the family all packed into their little car and took to driving down a vast and boring highway until they reached their destination. 

It was a miserable ride for a ten-year-old girl bursting with energy and excitement. Granny tried to keep her entertained but in the end, they managed to find peace by turning on the radio and sing along to the various types of music that came on.

They arrived, parked, and waited. 

Then a bus arrived, mostly packed with hikers. And him, her Uncle who somehow hadn’t change at all in two years. 

He was smiling as he was looking at them. He seemed happy, truly happy. So Marie run at him and hugged him as fast as she could. Then it was Benjamin’s time to hug his brother. Then Alice, and to the surprise of everyone, Granny wanted a turn as well. 

The family, now reunited spent their time enjoying the day. Jonathan brought Marie a sketchbook, a real art sketchbook like the ones he used. He forgot to bring colored pencils but he thankfully had a pencil at hand that he could lend her.

She started drawing as the adults were talking sitting at a bench, eating the sandwiches they brought with them. 

The day ended oddly normally. They hugged, said their goodbyes, and the family drove away while Jonathan boarded the last bus home, going the opposite way.

In the next year, this kind of meeting became the new norm for the family. They would meet from time to time and talk about their lives in that little park. Marie would bring her art to show Jonathan, in turn, he brought his own – Marie was pleased to see that he kept up with scrapbooking.

Then Jonathan started calling Benjamin time and time again just to talk on the phone. The brothers started rebuilding their relationship, slowly, brick by brick. That year, Jonathan came over for Christmas, and next year they spent New Year’s at his place.

Slowly, as it was natural, they started to get used to their lives being melded together.


End file.
